USC reached into a familiar place Monday, Georgia Military College, to land another defensive piece for the 2021 recruiting class. The Gamecocks offered CB Marcellas Dial (5-11 180), and the Woodruff native wasted little time in responding to Will Muschamp, Travaris Robinson and Bobby Bentley with a commitment.
“It means the world to me,” Dial said. “Since I was a kid, I wanted to go play at South Carolina, and now that it’s come true, it just means the world to me. I just want to keep making my mother proud.”
USC’s recruitment of Dial goes back to his senior season at Woodruff when Bentley went thru to check on him.
“Coach Bentley came and watched me worked out once, and that was when I was already committed to GMC,” Dial said. “After my first season at GMC, Coach Muschamp, Bentley, T-Rob, all of them starting texting me and calling me. That’s when they started to recruit me heavy.”
Dial contributed last season as a freshman and finished with 10 tackles, 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery.
“I can play anywhere on the field, anywhere in the secondary,” Dial said. “Anywhere I play, I make plays.”
“He’s a damn good one,” said GMC coach Bert Williams. “He had a great year for us. Long, physical. Did a great job for us. I’m excited for him to make that decision. He’s a very intense guy, in a good way. He loves to compete. He’s just dialed in. Dialed in on coaching. Dialed in on instruction, on making himself better each and every day in practice.”
Williams said more schools were beginning to show interest in Dial in January, but the Gamecocks have been on him longer and kept an eye on his development on the field and in the classroom.
“They’ve known about him really since the start of the year when they were looking at some of our other guys,” Williams said. “Once they got the film and got what he’s been doing in the classroom and saw where he was, it kind of spurred up a little bit.”
Williams said Dial should be in good shape to graduate in December and enroll in January. He will have three years to play two with the Gamecocks.
Dial gives the Gamecocks four new commitments for the 2021 class including the second for the secondary.
